Merchandise-display rack.



J. GRAY.

MERCHANDISE DISPLAY RACK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1913.

1,078,728., Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

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COILUMBIA PLANDGRAPII (IO-.WASHINUTON. D. C

PAT

JOHN GRAY, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND.

MEBCI-IANDISE-DiS'PLAY RACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 1, 1913.. SerialNo. 764,844.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, J OHN GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Central-Falls, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, and whose postoflice address is 15 Summer street, in said city, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Merchandise-Display ola. a ru at each side thereof a suspended bar to permit of attaching a rug thereto, from on the floor; hooks arranged for contacting with and supporting the bar at its uppermost position upon the rack, and,

means to simultaneously turn the hooks to release the bar in lowering the latter to the in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail transverse sectlon of the rack, taken on line m.a2. of Fig. 1, showing the normal opened positions of the hooks for supporting the rug-bar. Fig. 3 is a partial side elevation of the inner portion of the swinging arm, showing actuating means for operating to turn the supporting hooks to a closed posi-.

tion. Fig. 4 is a plan section taken on line .g of Fig. 3,'sho-wing a closed and an opened position which each hook assumes in its turning movement by the actuating means, and, Fig. 5 is an end view of the rack, at the outer part of its swinging arm.

My invention is applied for use on a T- shapecl arm -awhich has one end pivotally connected to an inverted L-shaped piece b--, secured to a wall or post .0, and said arm being supported by a brace rod -62 from the outer portion of its central web and the lower end of said rod pivotally connected to a similarly-arranged angle piece Z on the Wall or post. As I apply two like sets of devices to the swinging arm -a a description of one set will snflice to explain the construction and opera tlon.

A series of equi-spaced blockscarrying pivotally-connected grooved rollers are mounted upon the top flange of the arm a, and each block e has its upper part forked, as at c to receive each roller, 'as f, f f and its lower part designed to underlie the outer edge. of said flange, as at -e The rollers f',' f f extendlongitudinally of the arm and each opposed pair of blocks e is held in' a fixed position transverse ofthe arm and between the underlying portion -e by a clamping bolt g-, in the manner shown in Fig. 2.

From the top flange of the arm 'a depend a se'riesof hooks, and each hookmember -lzhas an enlarged head ]l to rest upon the top face of said flange and its hook portion has a horizontal bottom, as -/L2-, and the free portion inclined outwardly from the body or depending portion, as at h r V A shaft z'-- is journaled in hangers y', which are secured to the central web of the .arm -a, and each hanger has a supplementary bearing to receive the lower part ofthe body portion of each hook member -h, as atpoints j j in Figs. 4 and 5. l 7

At the inner part of the arm a and 'pivotally secured thereto is a bell-crank lever 7c, which has one free end connected to theend of the shaft -2' and its other end provided with an eye, as 7c for the attaching of a pull-wire connection An expanding coil spring m surrounds the shaft and is interposed between a hanger j secured to the central web of the arm --a, and a fixed collar .'n/ on said shaft. The shaft 2'- is provided with longitudinally-arranged slotted openings, as at 2' to receive the bottom por tions of the hookmembers h-, in order to permit a turning movement to be given to said members by means of the pull-wire connection --L. The action of the spring m-- tends to force the shaft z' and keep the upper arm of its lever 7c against the top flange of the rack-arm 'c, in the manner shown in Fig. 3, thus said le Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

may be equi-spaced and secured in any suit-" able manner to said bar, as shown, or each hook may be bent to provide an eye to permit the latter to slide on said bar.

for attaching the ends of cables t, 6 t

which, when the bar'is in its lowermost p0 sition shown m Fig. 1, are each of a length to. respectively pass within the grooves of the rollers f f and meet together, as

at a point 2f in Fig. 2, to form a short cable for attaching to a cleat u secured on the brace (Z of the rack. The cable t passes from the roller f direct to the inner groove, of a series of three, formed in the roller f the cable -t' passes from the roller f to the next cuter groove of the roller -f the cable t passes around the outermost groove of the roller f and the said three cables con-v verge to the .uniting point of the single cable connection 25*. As the bar ]9 is lifted by the manually-operated cable con nections to carry the rug from the floor level the said bar comes into contact with the inclined free portions h of the hook members h, and the ends of the latter project outside of the plane of the grooves of the rollers -f, f and inner groove of the roller f as shown in Fig. 5, and thereby permit the said bar to enter within the hook portions of the members hand be supported by the same, in the manner shown at the left of Fig. 2. In the, lowering operation the bar p is first elevated to clear from the hook portions of the members h, after which the wire connection Z is pulled upon to actuate the shaft 2' to simultaneously turn said members h, to the closed position shown at the upper part of Fig. 4, when said bar 9 is then free to descend to a convenient location to permit detaching the rug therefrom.

Having a swinging rack-arm equipped with independent similarly-arranged devices, as described, enables to operate in raising a rug from the floor level, to a displayposition at each side of the rack, and at the same time facilitate in releasing the rug from its supporting point, in the operation of lowering to bring such article within easy reach for detachment.

On the rug-bar p are secured eye members shat I claim as new and ofmy invention 1. In a merchandise display rack, in combination with a horizontal T-shaped swing ing arm, a series of hooks carried by the top flange of said arm and having their free end portions inclined outwardly from the central web of the latter; a series of rollers carried by said arm, each roller provided with one or more grooves, and the inner grooves of said rollers being in a plane inwardly of the free ends of said hooks; a rug-supportingbar having cable connections from the grooved rollers to operate in lifting said bar over the free ends of and within said hooks, and operating means carried by said arm to simultaneously turn the hooks and allow the said bar to descend to a lowermost position.

2. In a merchandise display rack, in combination with a horizontal T-shaped swinging arm, brackets arranged in pairs upon the top flange of said arm and each bracket carrying a grooved pulley; means to clamp each pair of brackets transverse of and to said arm; hook members journaled in the top flange of said arm and having their free portions bent to incline outwardly from the central web of said arm; independent rugsupporting-bars, each bar having cable connections from the pulleys of said brackets to operate in lifting either bar over the free ends of'and within said hook members, and operating means carried at each side of said arm to simultaneously turn said hook members and allow either bar to descend to the floor level.

3. In a merchandise display rack, in com bination with a horizontal T-shaped swinging arm, a series of equi-spaced grooved rollers carried by said arm; hook members loosely mounted in the top flange of said arm and having their free portions arranged to incline outwardly from the central web of the said arm; a slidable shaft carried at each side of said arm, each shaft having slotted openings to receive the bottoms of said hook members; a rug-suppcrting-bar having cable connections from the rollers to operate in lifting said bar to pass upon the inclines of the hook members and to enter the same; a bell crank lever mounted on said arm and having a pull-wire connection to operate in imparting an outer movement to said shaft in turning the hook members and allow the said bar to descend to the floor level. V

Signed at Providence, R. I., this 30th day of April, 1913. I

JOHN GRAY.

Witnesses 7 PETER C. CANNON, HENRY A. MonLLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington. IMO.

Commissioner of Patents, 

